Huge opportunity opening up for MF distributors

After a hugely successful 1st round of the “Mutual Funds Sahi Hai” campaign, AMFI is now gearing up for the 2nd round, which promises to be far more granular, and very neatly builds on the momentum and awareness generated by the 1st round. Round 2 promises to open up even more opportunities for MF distributors compared with the first round. Here’s a slide from the presentation made by AMFI at the launch of the next leg of the MFSH campaign – which should be music to the ears of MF distributors:

5 investor questions that MFDs are best placed to answer

32 lakh investors came into the industry last year and AMFI has set a target of 50 lakhs for this fiscal. What’s really noteworthy is that AMFI’s research suggests that there are perhaps many more investors out there who have become aware of MFs thanks to this great campaign, but have not yet invested as they lack guidance on fulfilment and doubts resolution. They don’t know who to go to with their questions, they don’t know who to go to for executing MF investments. AMFI’s MFSH campaign now aims to address these questions as well as help investors stay composed during bouts of market volatility, like what we are now experiencing.

Every one of the 5 questions that prospective investors have on their mind can best be addressed by MF distributors. AMFI’s campaign promises to help investors locate MF distributors and AMC branches near them. Lets understand this clearly: awareness of the product has spread quite rapidly and will likely continue to grow with a sustained MFSH campaign this year as well. What’s needed now is for prospects to locate the “store”, the “dukaan” where they can go and find out more and then purchase. MF distributors who recognize this and channelize their energies in the right direction are the ones who will make the most of this trend.

Move your focus to execution

I am reminded of an important insight that Prabin Agarwala from Siliguri shared with me a year ago. He observed that the game has shifted from product awareness building to execution and showed us how he has moved his game to execution (Read his article here). Take a look at a sample of the hoardings he has been putting up in Siliguri and see in in conjunction with the slide displayed above with the 5 questions that investors are now asking.

“Think SIP – call Prabin” – a simple one line message – but a hugely impactful one as it is exactly this one liner that more and more investors are looking out for, once they become interested in mutual funds. Think of a situation where each distributor finds low cost – high impact ways like Prabin did, to plaster their own localities with similar messages – one liners that tell investors who to go to for more information on mutual funds and how to invest in mutual funds. Investors are looking for fulfilment support, distributors are their natural port of call – what is now required is for distributors to make themselves more visible than ever before. Don’t just wait for referrals to come in – there are many investors – perhaps in your own localities – who are sitting on the sidelines with unanswered questions on mutual funds, now that they know that something like MFs do exist – thanks to the MFSH campaign. All you need to do is find ways to reach out to them – before online platforms and digital marketing initiatives of fund houses reach them.

When you conduct IAPs, think about whether you want to orient them to answer just these 5 questions. Don’t get into the basics of MFs and so on – play some of the high impact MFSH videos and dive straight into answering these 5 questions. Think of promoting your IAP along the lines of “Get your 5 key questions on mutual funds answered FREE”. Bottom line – time to align yourself to one key thought – position yourself as the one who has the answers, raise awareness of how people can reach you.

Jan Nivesh – another ace up AMFI’s sleeve

AMFI has another ace up its sleeve with the launch of Jan Nivesh - an AMFI – Times Now joint initiative that aims to educate, inspire and encourage Indians to change their financial habits to create wealth smartly by investing regularly in Mutual Funds and thus, make every citizen of India an equal participant in India’s economic growth story. Along with millions of TV viewers, the Jan Nivesh initiative will also reach out to over 50,000 people on-ground through over 200 events in over 100 cities & towns.

More awareness building, more interest in mutual funds – and many more savers looking for that last mile connect to help them get answers to questions they have, and help them invest in MFs. The opportunity for MF distributors is getting bigger as the MFSH juggernaut rolls on – provided you align with the need of the hour – which is make yourself known in your target market NOW.

Time to make market volatility work for MFDs

Market volatility like what we are witnessing now is likely to put a doubt in many self directed investors who perhaps didn’t see the need for guidance in a market that was on a one way street. More music to the ears of advisors and distributors – now’s your time to reach out, reassure them – even if they are not your clients – and make a reasonable bet that they will become your clients. Taking a leaf out of Prabin’s “Think SIP, call Prabin” line, how about running a campaign with a one liner “Worried about your SIP – call Prabin”?

There’s a great campaign that Ashish Goel of Vista Wealth, Delhi is running that builds on his wonderful article on WF – Mutual Funds Sahi Hai, PAR IFA Zaroori Hai. His neat WhatsApp campaign reinforces the need for guidance especially amidst market volatility.

To conclude

If you can stay focused on just one thought – which is “how do I make more people aware that I can answer their 5 questions”, you should experience far higher growth this year than the already robust numbers you achieved last year – with or without support from markets.

Before signing off, a word about MFSH – it’s truly an outstanding collective effort by the fund industry which is doing wonders for the industry and the ecosystem around it. Kudos to the team behind this great campaign, kudos to them on sustaining the tempo and changing track deftly to build on the initial momentum this campaign has generated.

Click here to view the entire AMFI presentation deck – contains very useful data and insights

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